Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and the reaction of the West Dr. Walid Amer اغتيال الشيخ احمد ياسين وردود فعل الغرب يحتوو هذاوووبحذحعلحووسذ لوووقذالوووتذعللووفيذحعتووولذتلغ عوو ذصياوووغذحعووو ذحع فليوو ذ وووحغصتاغذ لوووفذ حغتيووغ ذحعخوويمذ حاوو ذيغلووي ذحعووي ي ذحعف حوولذذذعحفاوو ذحعاحغ اوو ذحعلوو اي ذحاووغ ذحيووسذ ف وو ذاووب ذ حع حغص ذحع لفذلألول ذسلوحفليللذلحو حذيحتو هذ لوقذحعاميوفذااو ذحعححو ذ و ذحعخويمذحعخواي ذذ حفاتو ذ )حفاووو ذ عاحغ اووو ذحعلووو اي (ذل وووخ ذ غ ووو ذ حعخوووي ذحعخللوووليللذل وووخ ذ غاووو ذ ليووو ذتحليووو ذفذ يووو ذ حع حغص ذ ا قفذحع ذحعابا فةذق ذقغا ذحع حفل ذللفحذتيحي ذيحت ىذ لوقذاما و ذاو ذحعت ويغ ذ ل ووو يذايخيووو ذ وووفاذحعح وووي ذحعخللوووليلي ذعل وووف ذللفيحووو ذت ووو ذحعح وووي ذلخلووواغذ وووحغلاغذ اووو ذ ا ي اغ. ذ Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and The reaction of the West This topic includes a survey for the ways the western countries and their media tackled the news of assassinating Sheikh Ahmed Yasin the spiritual and political leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas. Such media demonstrate the news in an Israeli style. It includes high prejudice against the victim and his organization in particular and all the Palestinian people in general. After analyzing the attitudes and positions of these states the study introduces a commentary with some recommendations to be adopted for the benefit of the Palestinian cause and its supporters. 0451 Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and the reaction of the West Dr. Walid Amer 1. Introduction This paper describes the attitudes the western countries adopted towards assassinating Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, the spiritual and political leader of the Islamic resistance movement (Hamas). The ways their media tackled these news is highly symmetrical to the ways the Israeli media adopted, i.e. the way such news was demonstrated reflects much enmity and prejudice not only against Sheikh Yasin and his organization Hamas but also against all Palestinians and their supporters. The study ends with having some recommendations to follow when dealing with the West and the Western media. The paper starts with introducing a description of the autobiography of the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yasin. (Section 2). It then introduces the reaction of the main Western countries, (Section 3), and ends with introducing some recommendations for marketing the Palestinian issue to the West efficiently, properly and effectively, (section 4). 2. Ahmwd Yasin’s life and death 2.1. Ahmed Yasin's life As clarified in the Guardian, BBC and many other sources Sheik Ahmed Yasin was born 1937 (other Western media reported it as 1938). He was born in Asqalan.(a fishing village bordering Almajdal to the west) He moved to Gaza and settled there as a refugee after the war of 1948 and worked as teacher, preacher, and community worker. At age 12, Yasin was paralyzed in a sporting accident and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He was married and raised 11 children in a three-room shelter in Gaza City Sabra district. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood while studying at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, department of English, and adopted the movement’s belief that the rule of Islam should be imposed everywhere. This is by teaching people the values of Islam effectively, then Islamizing the state by applying the jurisprudence of Islam and after then establishing Khelafa on all Muslim held territories. After returning to Gaza, Yasin became actively involved in politics. He founded the Islamic compound (Amjjamma Alislamy)1 in Gaza in 1973, which soon controlled all religious institutions. At the time, this Islamic Organization dealt mostly with welfare. But the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood fueled Yasin’s belief that the Israelis 0450 Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and the reaction of the West Dr. Walid Amer occupied an Islamic land whose ownership was not negotiable. The sheikh gradually shifted from social and religious activity to clandestine activities against the Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza. "The Zionist occupation authority arrested Sheikh Yasin in 1984 and sentenced him to 13 years in jail for illegal possession of arms, and for the establishment of a military organization and his call for the annihilation of Israel. Sheikh Yasin acknowledged that he founded an organization of religious activists with the goal of fighting and carrying out "Jihad" operations against Israel2. The Western media claim that this organization was accused to have financial support from Islamic activists in Jordan to acquire large quantities of weapons. Yasin was imprisoned until May 1985, when he was released in a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian organization of Ahmed Jibril. (the popular front: the general leadership(PFGL). According to Sedan, "Yasin transformed his Islamic Organization into a new body called Hamas. An acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, at the start of the first intifada (uprising) in 1987, Hamas means zeal in Arabic". The organization gained popular support inside and outside the Occupied Territories in part because of its uncompromising position toward Israel, and its commitment to wage war against the Jews occupying Palestine and to “raise the banner of Allah over every inch of the holy land (Palestine).” Hamas filled a vacuum left by Arafat's failure to provide basic services to the Palestinians in Gaza, by establishing a social welfare system of schools, clinics and hospitals that provide free services to Palestinian families. (cf the Guardian Tuesday March 23, 2004) 2.1 Hamas charitable work Following the BBC and the Guardian, Tuesday March 23, 2004) Hamas is also claimed to establish charitable funds in the Occupied Territories, Israel, and around the world, which financed both its social and anti-social activities. This accusation of the western media proved its fallacy since the Islamic social work is seen clearly and widely in the Occupied Territories. It is 0451 Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and the reaction of the West Dr. Walid Amer represented in the work of the charitable organizations that are responsible only for supporting Palestinian orphans, poor families, the victims of the Israeli policy of ethnic cleansing and the innocent homeless people whose houses were demolished by the Israeli occupation forces in regular basis without committing any crime except being Palestinians. (for convenience readers are referred to the files of UNRWA offices in Gaza and the West Bank) Due to the illegality and uselessness of this policy of demolishing houses, which is widely condemned the Israeli defense minister Mofaz later (in 20th February 2005) found himself forced to conceal it. Militarily, Yasin was accused in the Western media of ordering Hamas activists to kidnap Israeli soldiers inside Israel In 1989, to kill them and bury their bodies in a manner that would allow Hamas to negotiate the exchange of bodies for Hamas prisoners, who would be released from jails in Israel3. Yasin was arrested after the abduction and murder of the Israeli soldier Ilan Sa'adon, and the discovery of the body of another Israeli soldier Avi Sasports, who was also abducted and murdered. Yasin confirmed during his interrogation that he ordered the establishment of a military wing within Hamas and approved the drafting of many Palestinian youth, as well as the carrying out of attacks. He was tried in the Zionist Entity and received two life sentences for his alleged involvement in these attacks. Yasin was held from May 1989 until October 1997, when he was released in exchange for two Mossad agents following a bungled assassination attempt in 1997 by the Mossad on a Hamas head of the political office Khalid Masha'l in Jordan. Sheikh Ahmed Yasin was a leading opponent of the peace process with Israel. He believed that Palestine belongs to Islam and advocated an Islamic state in all over Palestine. Sedan noted that he repeatedly said, “The so- called peace path is not peace and it is not a substitute for jihad and resistance,” and insisted that "Palestine" should be “consecrated for future Muslim generations until judgment day” and that no Arab leader has the right to give up any part of its territory." (cf. the Guardian for more details) Commenting on this claim Sheikh Ahmed Yasin has ever never called for the killing of Jews or even fighting them. He only called for launching jehad against the Zionists who dismissed his Palestinian people form their 0452 Sheikh Ahmed Yasin's assassination and the reaction of the West Dr. Walid Amer homeland and illegally established the so called Israel. Changing all Palestinian people as refugees expelled outside there home country and spread all over the world, leading a very harsh, miserable and humiliated life. They have spent 56 years in exile and most of them are currently living from hand to mouth and suffering from grinding poverty in the refugee camps inside Gaza and the West Bank, in the neighboring Arab countries, and worldwide. 2.2 Instigation against Israel David Haris (ibid) claimed that in spite of being the political leader Sheikh Yasin was responsible for authorizing and encouraging many attacks against Israel. This includes what so called the suicide bombing operations. Commenting on this claim one Ironically states that the British media which David Haris belongs to has ever never accused Jerry Adams the leader of the Sheen Feign, the political wing of the IRA organization, of responsibility for authorizing attacks against the British troops in Ireland or any where else despite the fact that both organizations have a number of symmetries in their aims set for liberating their counteries from occupation. 3. International response on Yasin's Martyrdom CNN, associate Press, Guardian, March 22 , 2004 and other sources; reported that "on September 6, 2003, the Israeli air force dropped a bomb on a Gaza building where Hamas leaders had gathered, but Yasin escaped with a small wound on his hand.